Namaste

That's like a "Hi, how are you" in Hindi.

It's almost my 6th day here in Delhi already. Time flies. I'm very thankful that the hotel room is alright. Much much much better than the dingy old chalet room I had when I went Senegal for a conference last October.

Precautions
Water has been ok so far. We're not taking any ice with our drinks. We only drink bottled water and I've been brushing my teeth with bottled water as well. Oh yes, and washing my contact lens case with mineral water too.

Friends
It's always nice to meet and catch up with old friends at such events. Come to think of it, I've known some of them for 4 years already! Time really flies. I see them more often than I see some of my relatives lol. Kinda sad though, to hear that a Japanese friend will be leaving her organisation at the end of this month, after serving 10 years with them. Pretty lady. Will miss catching up with her at future events.

Food
I've been having curry at every meal. I might end up being a bride who puts on weight before her wedding instead of staying slim! Anyway, thosai, cottage cheese, chicken curry, fried fish are some of the things that appear at each of the catered meals at the event. I have till next Friday here......they'll be serving the same type of food everyday. I'm GLAD I brought cup noodles....Anyway, a bunch of us went out together for Chinese food today hehe. Kungbao chicken, stir-fried vegetables in soya sauce, lemon fried chicken, chinese roast pork, mapo tofu and more. My colleagues and I were so happy!

Taj Mahal & Akshadham
Grand. Lovely. Pretty. Gorgeous. Spent a total of 10.5hours or so travelling to and from the Taj Mahal on my free day on Wednesday. I shan't say more about the Taj. People have seen more than enough photos and pictures of it to know what it is like. I'll talk about Akshadham instead. I

t is the biggest Swaminarayan temple in India I think. They were so strict we spent an hour trying to get into the temple. We had to surrender our mobile phones, bags and cameras. Only wallets, passports, waterbottles and some other items could be taken with us. Then we had to go to separate long queues for men and women. Everyone was frisked. The ladies had extra metal scanners run on them by lady attendants.

So finally after an hour we went in and then had to surrender more things along the way. Shoes had to be taken off from a certain point onwards. And then our water had to be surrendered too after yet another certain point. It was like as if we were being stripped of almost all our material items.

About 6 of us were there and we were awed by the temple which was made entirely of marble (like the Taj). When you step in side, you'll realise that every surface is covered in carvings of patterns and statues. Absolutely lovely. The ceilings had many intricate carvings done on them too. Very very pretty. Much it was a huge pity that we were all not able to snap pictures in the compound.

Errrr.....
My toilet flushes itself every once in a long while. I'm not reading too much into it. It's probably a piping or plumbing issue but my colleagues are teasing me about it and are saying that maybe...there's...something...or....ok, shan't scare myself.

Diplomatic enclave
By the way, a diplomatic enclave is where all the embassies, consulates and international diplomats are situated at. So security in the area is high with many road blocks. Guards check the boot and engines of all cars entering the hotel premises. All hotel entrances have metal scanners (like those at the airport), and guards checking bags, especially that of the ladies. Even when we first arrived at the hotel with our luggage, wee had to run our bags and luggages through a scanner as well.

Traffic
Traffic in the diplomatic enclave where my hotel is in = smooth, quiet and simple. Traffic in main city centre Delhi = mad, chaotic, noisy, dusty, scary. Dozens and dozens of cars, 2-wheelers, 3-wheelers, trucks and buses vie for space on the roads. Constant honking seems t be the de facto here. They honk their horns to say "I'm coming up behind you. Beware." or "I'm here." or "WTH do you think you are doing in my space." or "F*** you" or for fun or..... So really, there'd be a honk every 3 seconds or so.

In the smaller towns in the outskirts of Delhi, add pedestrians to the equation. It really takes alot of nerve to drive in such traffic. Being in a car on the roads is also a bumpy affair. I don't know how they lay their roads but let's just say its about as smooth as one bump for every 20cm of road.

CJK
Aside from the folks at the event, I've not really seen any other "Mongoloid" in Delhi. Which probably explains why the locals just gawk openly at you when they see you. When I was at the Akshadham temple, I think my group was one of the rare Chinese/Japanese/Korean who was in the temple. I swear whenever I passed by the locals, about 80% of them would stare at me or my group like as if we were aliens.